Today is our second session and an alumni member joined and we also had one group member out today due to illness. The group is clearly starting to gel and the group members are being very cooperative in allowing us to target various behaviors that are associated with inattention, executive functioning, minor repetitive behaviors, and difficulty summarizing information. We started off the session by looking at a couple of animation samples using a program that I’ve used for years called Hollywood. The group played with it a little bit by telling one of the counselors, Stasi, to input various actions for the characters and they tried to create a story. However, the resulting story was fairly rambling and disjointed.

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I used this as an opportunity to talk about story development and how plots are created. The group appeared to show some interest in this. We used various examples, but what was most appealing was when I took a short animation, called Alien Blip (see below), and broke it up into various sequences and had them give me very short sentences explaining what occurred. After watching the movie, they generated a synopsis of what occurred.

We also introduced, in full force, two of our three raffle systems: blue tickets and hero tickets. TF earned the very first hero ticket when another group member had difficulty understanding him, asked him to repeat himself, and he did so calm and effortlessly, and more clearly. We talked momentarily how this might be a particular challenge for TF and indicated that that’s what people earn hero tickets for. Other individuals earned tickets for controlling behaviors, relaxing more, and in particular, one group member previously in the day had agreed to “give up” his fanny pack which he then decided to leave in our office. We also used this as an opportunity to talk about teasing and sarcasm and how there are different kinds of teasing (teasing that doesn’t hurt feelings and is playful, teasing that does hurt feelings, and teasing that is excessive). It was then time for lunch and they had previously decided that they wanted to go to Numero Uno, a local Italian restaurant.  Lunch was uneventful, except that they all appeared to engage in varying levels of conversation which was monitored (loosely, so as not to intrude) by counselors, with occasional raffle tickets awarded.

We returned from lunch and immediately began to work on an animation project. I guided the group through the process, by which we first come up with a topic idea, then evaluate whether or not we can get it done.  It's interesting... many of the teens have good basic language skills, but areas such as the subtleties of humor are difficult for them.  Also, this is a very subjective topic and what I think is funny is not likely to excite them.  Still, I like to use it as an exercise in working cooperatively as a team.  We began putting together story ideas and two members came up with the ones below:

A guy trying to order a pizza, but the pizza man can’t understand him and keeps getting it wrong. (JV)

Albert Einstein's great, great, great, great,  grandson meets Benjamin Franklin’s great, great, great, great, grandson.  They talk about how great their famous ancestors were and how they could become famous because of them. (KV)

Without judging the merits of one versus the other (the group liked both), we discussed, given that we had 30 minutes to complete the entire exercise (okay, really 45 minutes, but I didn't tell them that), which one should we select for now.... The group decided to go with the more simple plot line by JV.  We moved into the other room where the computer containing the Hollywood program was set up.

Below is what resulted from their collaborative efforts, albeit, with some guidance from me.



It was interesting to watch as some group members skipped over important "pieces" of conversation, but were reception to revisiting and including them as we developed the movie.  Also, matching facial expressions, controlling what one might say to a server that is reasonable, and distinguishing between "humor" and "silliness" were all part of this 45 minute exercise.

 On Tuesday, we are having our first community outing.  Drop off is still, and is always, at Gelsons during the summer group.  We'll head off shortly after our arrival.  After mini-golf, we'll walk to the Galleria for lunch (takes only about 8 minutes), then return for our 2:00pm pickup.

Welcome!  Today we had a chance to review a few basics, the group met Sophie, a 17 month old Samoyed, and learned a little bit about web publishing.  We also discussed the different kinds of community outings and group members voted, holding up 1, 3, or 5 fingers to indicate how much they preferred a particular activity (1 lowest, 5 highest).  Why only three choices?  Five would have been overkill and, by requiring them to raise their hand each time, they practice participation, which for some appears somewhat challenging.  Laser Tag, as usual, was a top favorite, however mini golf increased in popularity when I reminded them this could include some time in the arcade.  Going to the zoo was voted down, so we won't be doing that with the adolescent group.

We reviewed how LUNCH Points works as well as the three different kinds of raffles that will be held.

Rules:  One of the things that we always do in group is figure out a few rules to get along with each other.  They came up with the following, so far:

1. Be positive and considerate with each other;
2. Have fun, but not by being mean to others;

Nicknames:  We chose nicknames, which is how the group members are referred to online

JV - "Sarge"
KV - "The One"
IL - "Buffalo"
TF - "Woof"
BS - "Jester"
WF - "?"

We reviewed that it is necessary to have a group nickname to earn LUNCH Points and participate in raffles, as well as to have projects posted.

On to lunch.... We have gone out for Chinese, Italian, Mexican, BBQ, Pizza, American-Style, Japanese, as well picnics.  They decided there might be more, but that covered it for now.

We ended up going to Chipotle and did a quick screen capture exercise to let them practice summarizing and providing short, quick bits of information  (see the video below):




In listening to the video, you may hear some questionable comments.  If you recognize your child's voice, WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT BRING THIS UP TO HIM!  We will address it is subsequent meeting, but if you bring it up, it may create a negative reaction.  Our goal is positive practice, decision making, and rehearsing, not critiquing their behavior.

After lunch we looked at some sample animations and a couple of new programs I have purchased to use in group.  Then, it was off for a rare dessert treat, this time, frozen yogurt.

Group ended right on time at 2:00pm and all of the parents picked up right on time.  Nice!  There was significantly more socializing going on by lunchtime.  Next meeting they will select behaviors to target and rewards they wish to earn, plus a couple of participants have websites they wanted to show the group.

Hi Parents,

Truly, we're in a winding down mode.  The kids know it too, although a couple of them were surprised to learn that we only have one more group meeting.... that's an executive functioning deficit.  They go on, living in the present, and forgot to anticipate or plan for upcoming events.  They don't even get onto their radar.  What to do?  Practice, create visual schedules, practice/rehearse some more.  What not to do?  Yell, threaten, punish.  Not only will they learn nothing, it can affect their self-esteem (yes... really!) and makes them feel intellectually inferior.  Ironically, the more gifted the child, the more inferior they tend to feel and hold on to it.

Tonight's activity was  a community out for miniature golf, followed by a quick walk to the Galleria for dinner.  Whenever we try something new, I always feel a bit apprehensive, wondering if everything will go smoothly.  I'm pleased to say that it went off without a hitch and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves.  There was one counselor with each group of kids.

We had 13 teens attending and they split up into three groups of foursomes and one group of five (they finished first, somehow). Everyone balanced having a good time, socializing, and playing.  I got plenty of exercise  traveling among the three groups taking pictures.

After they finished, we had tokens for them to play in the arcade for about 15 minutes before it was time to travel to the Galleria for dinner.  No one complained when it was time to stop and we collected outside.  I drove (so I could bring the counselors back and the three counselors went with the teens).  By the time I had parked and walked over the Fuddruckers, out meeting place, they were just coming up the walkway.  It couldn't have been timed any better.  What I especially liked was how cohesive they all looked.  Some slightly out of breath.... no one in an apparent foul mood or complaining.

As it turned out, there were two other food places near Fuddruckers, Quiznos, and a Japanese restaurant.  I let them choose among the three and we congregated outside at the tables.  Everything went smoothly and they just ate and socialized during this time.

I was worried about the pickup, even to the point of checking with an LAPD Traffic Control Officer after being informed by a parent that our planned pickup may not be safe.  He assured me that the turnout was designated for that purpose, just not to park and leave the car.  Because it is painted red, not "white," I can see where this is confusing (wrote down his badge number just in case).  As worked out, the pickup went very smoothly and nearly all of the parents picked up their kids on time.

So, one more meeting left.  You will be receiving two emails from Stacy.  The first is to help us determine whether you are interested in the Summer Program.  The second is our "end of year" parent feedback.  We are doing it one session ahead, primarily for families who need to have reports completed for summer.

One parent dinner coming up, Tuesday, June 1st and our final meeting is on Thursday June 3rd.  We'll be going to the park and then to CPK for our final dinner.  How time flies!

Parents,

Tonight was a very smooth night for the teens. A little bit sad in that we talked about there being two sessions left, but we planned out the next two sessions out as a group and I think they’re going to have a nice time. Next meeting, we’re going to be having miniature golf, arcade and then walk for about fifteen minutes and go to the Galleria for dinner so you’ll be dropping them off at one place and you’ll be picking them up at another place. Stay tuned because we’ll send you a flyer on that next week. Then for our final meeting they decided and it was EF who suggested it that we go to the park. She said that hadn’t happened and she really wanted to do that. The group agreed with her and so we’ll going to go to the park and then go to California Pizza Kitchen and we will meet back at Gelson’s as per usual to say goodbye to everyone. So there we have it, what’s going to happen later this month and in early June. Don’t forget that there will be a parent dinner on June 1, Tuesday. Please call in and make your reservations for this.
So tonight, it was really about socializing and tolerance. We did a barbecue and so they shopped for their barbecue. Rather than doing steaks, hotdogs and other things, we just got hot dogs for everyone and that worked more smoothly. They socialized, they appeared to enjoy socializing, and we had three kinds of raffles. There was the blue ticket raffle, there was the hero ticket raffle where eight kids had a chance to win, and there was the LUNCH points raffle and two prizes were handed out for that. There was a parent’s meeting as well and what was impressive was how quietly and respectively the kids came in when they either needed water or to use the restroom.

The parent meeting in itself was nice in that there weren’t a lot of questions about generalization, but there were questions more about “What do I do with my child when they’re no longer coming to this group?” and this is very relevant and sometimes hard to answer, but parents talked about community services through organizations like J Nolan and about some of the things that their kids are doing where they’re getting out into the community more. One father (KV’s) talked about how his son is calling other kids and that was impressive. All in all, they were well-behaved, they helped set up chairs, they helped clean up, and it was a well rounded evening. One final thing we talked about was what to do with kids who are more isolated and this is hard because it seems to be a blend of how much they feel attachment to others and how much anxiety they experience and how competent they feel in having conversations. This is something that requires continued focus on the part of parents and my take is to have your kids immerse in different social situations so it gradually can become more comfortable. But that’s about it for tonight parents. I will look forward to seeing your kids in two weeks as we continue the winding down process. Thanks.

Hi, Parents:


Well, we are getting down to the wire, and I can feel it. . Tonight, we did an activity that made me realize how far some of your kids have come. It showed up in how they thought and what they had to say.

We began the group with 15 teens, and Sophie came tonight. She was a hit, as usual. And, in fact, I showed them a 3 minutes video that I had made with her starring." They are encouraging me to put on YouTube. We will see...

Anyway, they were engaged in their typical magazine reading at first, which gave way to conversations and more conversations. Really, that was the theme of the entire evening. Five of them had LUNCH Points and participated in a somewhat unusual LUNCH Points raffle. I started off by picking a number and then having them add the first two letters of their first name together to form a number. So, if somebody’s name was “Abe,” the A and the B would form the number 3. One student won that way. Then, for the second raffle, I had them listen to one of my favorite musicians and guess the person’s first name. Whoever came closest also won.  Doing things in this manner forces them to attend and maintain cognitive flexibility.  Since most, but not all win, it gives them yet another chance to handle disappointment without losing control or making it too much of a "big deal."

After the raffle, we headed out for Uncle Chen’s for Chinese food. Many of your kids tried new items. Some wanted Hero Tickets, and some got Hero Tickets. It was particularly impressive to watch EF try chicken with lemon on it. Her conclusion was that it was the lemon part that was unhealthy, but the fried chicken part was okay.

Other group members showed thoughtfulness and consideration as they passed things to one another. We did our usual working on manners, as well as just general social behavior, and not letting the volume get too loud during mealtime. Having said that, it really never got too loud; they were just enjoying themselves. None of them were raucous, but rather they were just teenagers having a good time. A group of women (it always seems to be a group of women.) were seated outside of our room.  They asked what the special event was, and looked a little puzzled when I said it was just a group of teenagers getting together for dinner.

The kids ate and ate, but they didn’t stuff themselves. They had wor won ton soup, spare ribs, shrimp in lobster sauce, beef with noodles, chicken with noodles, tangerine chicken, egg rolls, and, of course, fortune cookies. Believe it or not, despite the number of dishes on the table, there wasn’t much left when they finished.

During this time I asked your kids what they liked or didn't like about the group.  The majority of teens who had have been attending group for a longer period of time expressed themselves in a thoughtful manner and seemed more mature in how they responded.

We finished up and headed back with a couple of kids picking up their backpacks on the way. We also voted on what we wanted to do for our final outing, which will occur the third week in May. After choosing between the mall, which a few wanted, a picnic, (Only CP wanted that one, but he really wanted it.), laser tag, and miniature golf plus arcade, it came down to between laser tag and miniature golf/arcade. We did a runoff vote, and, by a verdict of three to two, they decided on going to miniature golf/arcade. So, we have a new activity to plan which will be at Castle Park.

So, that’s about it for now. We are in a winding down process. And thanks so much for having such great kids. See you next time.

Hi, Parents:


Tonight went quite smoothly. First of all, we had a new group member, (IL) and I am pleased to say that he fit into group quite easily. No matter when I looked, other members were engaging with him, and vice versa. In fact, the majority of the group members were engaged with one another tonight, and that was simply just very nice to see.

The evening began by me talking to them and laying out what we were going to do tonight, which involved an outdoor activity, involving games of either Bananagrams or Guess Who. In addition to that, many of the teens who had previously done the video had an opportunity to improve their performance, and about five of them took me up on that offer. I am pleased to say that all five of them were able to look at little bits of what they did before and improve their performance.

I previously told you that I don’t show the group members elements of their negative behaviors, and I want to make a distinction. I wasn’t showing them negative behaviors, but rather a specific behavior that I wanted them to improve, and I tried to only show them enough of it so they could just see what the specific behavior was. For example, one student, CE, did a wonderful job but didn’t end his sentences by lowering his voice. This made it appear as though he was stopping in mid-sentence, even though he wasn’t. He had an opportunity to work on that, and it was hard for him to follow the structured format that we set up. However, he persevered and did so, and then seemed quite proud of his performance. Similarly, the other participants who did re-takes or did it for the first time also really took it seriously, and it was nice to see their outcomes. This included CP, GS and IL.

After we concluded this and the games tournament, we all went to Baja Fresh for dinner, where they naturally congregated in groups of threes and fours. Ordering went smoothly, and no problems occurred during group. At the end, we had a surprise LUNCH Points raffle, and there were a total of six participants. We allowed IL to earn one LUNCH Points certificate because it was his first group, as a way of not excluding him, since he had not had a prior opportunity. The group ended with dessert, where we had promised them last time, at the end of Japanese food, that they would have mochi, and they had green tea, strawberry and chocolate.

So, all in all, it was a pretty action-packed group. See you in two weeks.

Hi, Parents:


Tonight was the parent dinner for both groups, and it was reasonably well-attended. We had four parents from the kids’ group and five parents from the teenage group. During the evening, I showed videos of both the kids’ group and the teenage group as to what has been happening throughout the year, and also shared a project that I have been working on with the kids that involves “the best thing that happened to me in the past year was …” We talked about language and how we work in the group with kids on the effectiveness of their verbal communications, and being able to use language as a socialization mechanism.

Additionally, we talked about the role of executive functioning. Parents heard how many of their kids kind of got the instructions wrong, and sometimes had difficulty making their point clearly and succinctly. I reviewed how I work with the kids to have their conversations with a proper amount of detail, rather than excessive degrees that act like a prepositional phrase that goes on and on. Parents remained interested. Their were quite a few questions in general about overall diagnoses, and we talked about those in terms of the functional behaviors that they represent.

Parents asked about the summer group program, and we will be doing our end-of-group surveys in April, with a follow up to occur in June. Overall, as the parent meetings go, it went smoothly. Perhaps the only exception was that, in the buzz of conversation, we sort of forgot to order dinner, and the server didn’t take our orders until 6:45 p.m. The meeting broke up a little bit after 7:30, and parents could still be seen engaged in conversation fifteen minutes later in the parking lot.

We have group later this month, and then our last parent meeting, in the office, come this May.

Hi, Parents:


The teen group tonight went smoothly. They started off by talking about where we would be going for dinner. When I mentioned that it was “Japanese Food,” everyone was pretty excited, except one of the group members, (EF), was very disappointed. Fortunately, she was able to problem solve and recover, and, after a period of time, was not only was participating in the group, but was able to successfully order things at dinner. For everybody else, I would say that they had some pretty creative menu ordering skills, when it comes to Japanese food. They were as, or more, adventurous than many adults.

Overall, our pattern of, when we do go to dinner, letting the kids pretty much be by themselves with me just kind of wandering around occasionally or sending a counselor to deal with a specific issue is how we’ve been handling things. But I would say that probably tonight, 80% of the time we monitored them, but left them on their own.

Prior to dinner, what we did was continue the exercise that the parents who came to the meeting last time saw of different students saying what their most enjoyable thing was over the last year. Most of them chose to participate, and, in fact, eleven total participated in making an on-camera fifteen second speech. What I had the group doing tonight was recording the applause and congratulations, but doing it so it’s like a post-editing project. They will have a chance to see how this looks in a subsequent meeting and then finalize it.

Other than that, some of the group members who weren’t able to come last time picked up their raffle prizes. And, overall, it was a smooth, enjoyable meeting, with lots of them earning tickets for good conversations. The average number of tickets earned tonight ranged between a high of four blue tickets for one individual, three hero tickets for the child who was able to calm down, and a smattering of tickets here and there. But, everyone earned at least some tickets.

So, having said that, overall it was a nice, enjoyable time, and I am looking forward to seeing your kids for the next group meeting.

Hi, Parents:


Tonight went smoothly, and your kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. We started off by talking a little bit about what the evening would entail, and several of them responded with areas and questions that they were interested in having me bring up during the parent meeting. We also talked in general about what was happening in group, and the tone, interestingly, was different than in the kid group, as might be expected. Very few of the teens were actually looking at magazines; they were joking with one another; they were conversing; it was a really nice introduction to the group tonight. One of the teens (EF) was unhappy that we were going to be doing any kind of technology project, but when we reviewed when we had last done one, she acknowledged that it had been a while. The technology project, which occurred when they transitioned into the larger room, consisted of having them talk about something really great that had happened to them during the past year. We did a few retakes to help them with this, and I really thought of this as a blend of an executive function and pragmatic communication type of exercise.

Your kids had no problem talking to the camera, but some of them had difficulty initiating; some had difficulty staying focused during the suggested fifteen minute timeline, and some of them had trouble concluding and ending. These are all worth working on, and I will be writing these down to try and make their representations look as natural and effective as possible.

Shortly after we transitioned to Gelson’s, where they chose different things they wanted to eat, and had the meal outside family style, the parent meeting started at 6:00. Congratulations to MS’s parent, who was the only one there waiting. However, by 6:20, we actually had a very good turnout. Parents then asked many useful questions, and we talked about some of the different kinds of behaviors involving compulsions, effective socializing, the effects of a positive school environment on their children’s behaviors, and simply how they stay connected to peers.

Parents watched the movie that the kids had produced earlier in the evening, and we talked about the significance of it.

The evening ended with a raffle for your kids, and all of them had an opportunity to win something. With very few exceptions, counselors reported that this went smoothly.

All in all, a good evening. We will be looking forward to the parent dinner the second week in April, followed by the parent meeting in two months, then another parent dinner in June. There also will be two more community outings: one will likely be an extended trip to the nearby park, and one will be at a location yet to be determined, but likely something bowling or miniature golf.

Thanks very much, and email me if you have any questions.